Hall of Fame Article - Jet Jaguar - Class of S74

[fromtheinside 1,278]

Jet Jaguar - Class of S74

 

Position: C

Birthplace: Kiev, Ukraine

Height: 6'3  |  Weight 211 lbs

Age: 27

Drafted:

S66 VHL Entry Draft

1st Round | 10th Overall (Moscow Menace)

Username: @gorlab

 

 

Jet Jaguar's path to greatness began all the way back in Season 65 where he played for the Halifax 21st. After getting his feet wet in the minors, Jaguar immediately declared for the VHL Entry Draft that offseason. Shockingly, Jaguar didn't hear his name called until pick 10! In hindsight, many GM's will look back on this and kick themselves, as Jaguar went on to beat all 9 players who were called before him in career scoring. Amongst those 9 players were Hunter Hearst Helmsley (who was also on the Hall of Fame ballot) , as well as fellow Class of 74 inductee Julius Freeman. To surpass players of this caliber in career points is a true feat in itself. By dropping to 10 in his draft, the Moscow Menace were gifted a generational face of the franchise. Over the course of 6 seasons, Moscow would build pieces around Jaguar to compliment his elite offensive talent. In Season 70 during his fifth year with the club the team finally had a breakthrough. Jaguar posted career highs that season which culminated into the team winning their first ever Continental Cup.  Along with taking home the league title, Jaguar also claimed the Mike Szatkowski Trophy for most points that year. Shockingly it would be his only piece of individual hardware which would come to a surprise to many, however, this should be a perfect example that you don't need individual accolades to have a legendary career.  In his final two seasons Jet toured to Davos where he enjoyed two more highly successful campaigns. Jaguar was truly a consistent offensive threat year in and year out and was also known to be beloved by his teammates. During an era where scoring was known to be a rare commodity at times, Jet never ceased to pile up the stat sheet, and for that reason he is one half of your Class of S74. 

 

Career Awards

S69- All-VHL Second Team

S70- All-VHL First Team

S70- Mike Szatkowski Trophy

S70- Continental Cup Champion (Moscow)

S71 - All-VHL Second Team

S72- All-VHL First Team

 

 

Career Recap

 

S65 (VHLM - Halifax)

As mentioned in the introduction, Jaguar began his journey to become a pro hockey player in Season 65 when he signed a contract with Halifax of the VHLM. Jet hit the ground running in the M by posting a most impressive 57 points in his inaugural season. His production perhaps predictably dipped some in the playoffs, only posting 6 points in 13 games. Many pundits considered this nerves that many young kids go through when they play in their first meaningful handful of postseason games and this allegedly may have been what dropped his stock a bit in the upcoming VHL Entry Draft! Despite a subpar playoff performance, JJ was still primed to make the jump to the pros for Season 66!

 

Regular Season

Playoffs

 

S66 (VHL - Moscow)

Jet took the league by storm in his rookie campaign posting 90 points (40 goals, 50 assists) including goals on the man advantage and three game winners. Amazingly his first season went down to be his second best season for goals and his third best for points. This easily goes down as one of the great rookie performances in Moscow history, but despite that, the young franchise from the Motherland was unable to convert Jaguar's efforts into a playoff birth. Unphased by this, Jaguar his the gym in the offseason and came back ready for his sophomore season.

 

Regular Season

 

S67 (VHL - Moscow)

After putting himself on the map in Year 1 of his pro career, the competition came ready to slow this cat down, but try as they may, Jaguar continued to pounce on his enemies and cultivate success for himself and his teammates. Jet may have felt a touch snake-bitten in S67 as he only buried 21 goals, however he did connect with his linesmates for 52 assists which was good for another 70-plus point season. Despite his slight drop-off in points, the team was evolving as a whole and they managed to crack the post-season. It was a quick 5 game exit in the first round, but Jaguar did manage to put up a point-per-game ratio !

 

S68 (VHL - Moscow)

While still an above average season for most players, Jaguar's 60 point stint in his 3rd year in the league was by far the worst of his career. Coming off of a season that saw the Menace get their first crack at postseason play, S68 would widely be considered a disappointment in the eyes of most Moscow fans. But little did the fanbase know, the best was yet to come...

 

Regular Season

 

S69 (VHL - Moscow)

Season 69 will go down as the year things started to click for this core of players in Moscow. Not only did Jaguar bounce back statistically (35G, 50A, 85P) but the team re-emerged as a playoff contender once more.  After defeating Helsinki in 6 games in the EU Quarter Finals, Jet and the Menace came up short in the Semis vs a very tough Riga Reign squad. Despite going out in 5 in the semi-finals, many found this result to be very promising and something to build off of for Season 70 and beyond.

 

Regular Season

Playoffs

 

S70 (VHL - Moscow)

After taking a major step the year prior, the Menace knew this was their window to compete for a title. Now in his fifth season, Jet Jaguar was in the prime of his career and it really was starting to show. Season 70 it Jet was truly a man amongst boys out on the ice. Amassing a whopping 97 points including a career high 42 goals, Jaguar earned his first and only individual piece of hardware by taking home the Mike Szatkowski Trophy at year end for most points that season. However this wasn't the only trophy that was earned in S70. After a clean sweep of Prague in the first round, history repeated itself as Riga and Moscow squared off in a rematch of the previous year's semi-final matchup. This time it was the Menace who got the last laugh by eliminating the Reign in 5. In the elimination game, Jet was named first star after leading his team with 2 points in a 3-1 series-clinching victory. After that it was off the league finals to face off against the Calgary Wranglers. In a close series,  Moscow jumped out to a 3-2 series lead. Game 6 was a tight affair with not much offense to be had from either side. Tied after regulation, the game needed overtime. At 11:31 of the extra period, Dean Clarke hit Jaguar with a pass to the half-wall.  With his great instincts, Jet one-touched the pass across the seam to an open Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen and the rest is history. After 5 tough years in the Motherland, all the hard work finally paid off and JJ was finally able to etch his legacy into VHL history. 

 

Regular Season

Playoffs

 

S71 (VHL - Moscow )

There was no Cup hangover to be had Moscow following the organizations first ever league title. The crew got back to work and to absolutely nobody's surprise, Jaguar posted another superb season ending with 77 points (33G, 44A). It was back to the playoffs to defend their championship. After sweeping Malmo in four, Jet's crew took on Riga for a third straight year... in the rubber match it was Moscow once ruining the dreams of Riga fans around the league. All things considered, they made short work of Riga, and were red-hot heading into their second straight Cup Finals. Sadly, this is where the fairy tale ending gets cut short. The Menace were outplayed by a young and hungry Seattle Bears franchise that would go onto form a dynasty of their own. But that's a story for a different day. While losing in the Cup Finals may have been a bitter pill to swallow for Menace fans, what was to come perhaps would sting even more....

 

Regular Season

Playoffs

 

S72 (VHL - HC Davos)

June 1st. That is a day that will be remembered by Moscow fans, and probably by Jet as well. The trade that sent shockwaves through the hockey universe... GM @Victorpulled off a blockbuster with HC Davos and for the first time in his illustrious career, JJ was going to don new team colours. One thing was for certain, there was no buyers remorse on the side of  HC Davos GM @GustavMattias. Season 72 was arguably the best of Jaguars 8 year run in the pros. Tying his point total from S70 (97), Jaguar found himself knocking on the door of the 100 point club once more. In addition to his offensive outburst, Jaguar was also starting to show his mean side, gathering 241 hits and 139 PIMS that year. Despite the incredible regular season, Davos was quickly disposed of in the first round by JJ's number one rival... you guessed it. The Riga Reign. The Reign also went on to beat Moscow that season so in hindsight perhaps the trade hurt both teams? That is a matter that could still be debated to this day. 

 

Regular Season

Playoffs

 

S73 (VHL - HC Davos)

In what would be his 8th and final season of his complete masterclass of a career, Jet show little signs of aging or fatigue. He managed a very respectable 66 points (28G, 38A) and his PIMs (159) and Hits (289) both rose once again to set new career highs. Jaguar was truly a polished product towards the end of his career provided both grit and skill on both ends of the ice. Davos was able to make the playoffs yet again but unfortunately it was a similar result, this time falling to Malmo in 5 games in the EU Wildcard Series. After their quick exit, Jaguar announced his retirement from the VHL shortly after. Those going out in the first round may not have been the way he wanted to end his career, Jaguar can most definitely look back on his career and have no regrets.

 

After being chose for to be inducting in the Class of S74, the writing staff reached out to Jet and asked him if he would like to reflect on his long and storied career. Here's what JJ had to say:

 

"As my first HoF player, Jaguar will always hold a special place in my heart. Despite not having as much cup success as my previous players, and ruining my 2 cups/career average, Jaguar definitely performed admirably stat-wise and I think was one of, if not the, premier forward of the late 60s/early 70s.

There's a lot of people to thank, who were influential in Jet Jaguar's career. First and foremost, Kyl and Ofer convinced me to re-create on VHL after a year or two of inactivity. Victor for drafting me in S66 and building around me. There's too many Moscow teammates to thank, but off the top of my head, RANDOMS (hedgehog), SMITTY (flyersfan), GRITTY (eaglesfan) and BERNARD (Mr. Hatter) come to mind as the core of the team. Role players like Telkster, Dan Baillie (wcats), KYLE, gooningitup, and zekethebeast aka ree have to be mentioned as well.

 

In retrospect, I really should have spent Jaguar's career on Moscow as I think I would have had a better final 2 seasons and possibly another cup, but I have to again thank Vic for giving me to opportunity to cup chase when we thought Moscow's window was closed, hence my S72 trade to Davos.

Despite the lack of success playing in Switzerland, and my predisposition to hating Davos, I did enjoy my time there, and think Jaguar's 2.5 seasons, or whatever it was, healed the hatred between gorlab and the Davos franchise. All credit goes to Gustav, Berocka, BrrbisBrr, RILEY, Josh, and Davos legend AHMA of course for making the team a fun place to play, and being pretty competitive despite never winning.

 

There's numerous members who were influential through the career of Jaguar. I can't name them all, but I will begrudgingly honour Hunter Hearst Helmsley (beaviss) and Julius Freeman (rjfryman) as I think our 3 players defined both the S66 draft class and the early 70s decade of the VHL. They activated my pettiness and competitiveness, and pushed me to tpe whore and build a suitable player, which finally got me to the HoF. From my first stint of activity, to my current stint, and all future stints, VHL will always be my #1 and home sim league. Thanks very much for the HoF induction.... In the words of BOBBY DIGITAL (S48 - S55): GOODBYE.... AND GOOD NIGHT.  bang"

 

Thanks to @tcookie25 Addison McLaren! Much of the formatting from this post was inspired by his HoF article from October!

 

Edited November 12, 2020 by fromtheinside
accidentally posted before i was finished :(

[fromtheinside 1,278]

Congrats to gorlab on an amazing run with Jet Jaguar. He was truly integral to getting Moscow off the ground in the early going!

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Congrats on your induction G

[Matt thunder 444]

you did a great job here, hope you will like your stay in the hall of fame.

Btw nice article and thanks for the photos, you will get a solid 9 out of a 10.

[gorlab 4,321]

ty for the article @fromtheinside

[wcats 235]

What an absolute legend!!

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY ROOKIE OF THE YEAR JET JAGUAR